JJ Luna's personal privacy blog. In 1959 he moved to Spain's Canary Islands to begin a then-illegal educational work that included secret meetings in remote mountain forests. Although pursued by General Franco's Secret Police, he maintained his privacy via a false identity and was never caught. When the Spanish dictator moderated Spain’s harsh laws in 1970, Luna was free to come in from the cold. However, he remains in the shadows to this day. He is currently an international privacy consultant.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

One way to prevent home burglaries in the daytime

A recent rash of home burglaries in several major cities has one thing in common. The burglars take advantage of the fact that the home owners have foolishly used their home address when buying a vehicle. (Readers of How to be Invisible would never make such a mistake!) Here's the modus operandi:

1. Watch for late-model upscale cars entering the parking lot of a mall or supermarket.

2, As soon as the owner enters the building, break into the car, snatch the registration, and leave at once. If a personal name and a local street address are listed, assume no one is now home there!

3. Race to the home, ring the bell, and when no one answers, burglarize the home in broad daylight. (BONUS--If the owner had a garage-door opener clipped to the visor, use that to enter the home.)

SOLUTION One way to prevent home burglaries in the daytime is to re-title your vehicle in the name of an anonymous New Mexico limited liability company (NM LLC). For details, contact me: Jack (at) jjluna.com.

4 comments:

The very clique-ish and expensive area Palo Alto CA has had a RASH of daytime burglaries. The late Steve Jobs home was also hit, 60k worth of electronics stolen (suspect found etc, was big media story) but this is how the thieves work: drive into neighborhood (whether the place has been "cased" is unknown to me) and knock on a door. The thieves often employ a woman for the "door knocker". No one answers, thieves enter home through the rear/back doors and load up. The neighborhoods are so nice and trusting, sometimes doors left unlocked. The thugs may move up to occupied rip off scenarios as the economic situation deteriorates. Another issue are "tented" homes being targeted- the ones being "fogged" for insects that have those big circus type tents covering it. No the insect spray isn't strong enough to take out the thugs, darnit!

Ha, well where we live when someone breaks into your place the cops won't even show up. They told my significant other on the phone, "Well what do you want us to do about it?" The cops have done this with other people who have gotten broken into. One had a drunk driver neighbor hit their car and take off, the cops didn't even come over to investigate. One state trooper told the local gas station owner that the burglars better make the first one a good one because they 'let the first one go'. Around here cops don't give crime much priority, unless of course it's against their family or them.

People need to realize police exist to protect the interests of the wealthy elite and to generate revenue. If you still believe they "protect" you or your possessions you haven't been paying attention.

My neighbors had the only house with a fence around the front yard and multiple vehicles in the driveway, but theirs was the house a stoned neighbor decided to break into. He was trying to break down their door.

They called the law. No one came. They threatened to shoot him and he left, pounding on other doors in the neighborhood. Neighbors called police again. Still no one came.

The guy came back and started trying to break down their door again. This time the shotgun noise wasn't deterring him. They called police AGAIN and told them what was happening.

As soon as the neighbor said, "if he breaks through my door I'm going to shoot him with my shotgun" THEN they sent not one, not two, not three but FOUR squad cars to harass the neighbor for threatening to shoot an obviously stoned or crazy person trying to break down their door in broad daylight.

Amazingly, they caught the guy. He was carrying a loaded pistol. But to the police, the neighbor in his own home was the only "bad guy" worth harassing. That was in California.

A friend in Houston, Texas called the police when her husband hit her in the face while she was holding their infant. Even though she had a broken noise and blood everywhere they ordered HER to leave their home when he told them she was "a hysterical woman who hurt herself". Right.

Do yourselves a favor. NEVER call the police. Many have been arrested, had their children taken, and their lives turned upside down. Deal with the issues yourself and do NOT call authorities.

That goes double for women who are being abused. Texas prisons are full of women convicted of murder because they finally killed their abuser in self-defense. If there is any record of violence you are likely to be considered a pre-meditated murderer.

If you think following the advice to get a protection order and expect a piece of paper to stop an abuser, think again. It usually just provokes them to worse violence and sets you up for a prison sentence.

Third story. I know another woman in a small town in Texas who divorced her violent husband. He came after her and almost killed her. She was in the hospital a long time. When I met her the arrest warrant had been outstanding for over ten years. Her ex lived in town, worked in town, and even if she or her family were in the local cafe when her ex was and the Sheriff was there, too, the law would just wink and say "we can't find him" when he was sitting across the room.

Listen to Luna. Implement his privacy strategies. And if your life is in danger, do WHATEVER it takes to be unfindable. If you don't have issues now, you will. Just do it.